A Job From The Surface
by The Humanoid Cat Angel
Summary: Team Natsu goes on another job... through time! Join Natsu and the gang as they go save a certain blonde swordsman and possibly help him save the world itself. T for blood and violence
1. Chapter 1

A Job from the Surface

Chapter 1

Lucy sat beside Happy as the two watched Natsu and Gray go at it for about the umpteenth time today.

"What was that, lizard-breathe?!" Gray yelled.

"I said watch were you're shooting that stupid magic of yours. I knew you were bad at magic, but this is ridiculous, ya pants less freak" Natsu spat back with a smirk.

"*sigh*they never seem to give it a rest. Ever since Erza left to go on that S-class mission, it seems they fight every chance they get." Lucy said as Natsu talked Gray and it seemed the whole guild suddenly broke out in a brawl.

"Aye." Happy simply said. Just then, the Guild doors busted open to reveal one of the guild members.

"Guys… huff, huff… Erza... ERZA'S BACK!" He shouted in between breathes that one sentence brought the guild to a dead silence as everyone froze in terror. Then, faster than most people can blink, everyone started fixing, cleaning, rearranging, or grabbing a random job (not even looking at them) and running out. Even Natsu and Gray momentarily forgot about each other and started cleaning up broken bits of furniture and sweeping up wood chips.

Just as everyone finished up, the doors opened to reveal a woman, garbed in silver plated armor from head to toe, with scarlet colored hair waltzing in. (who looked ready to ruin someone's day with how red her face was.) She looked around, inspecting everyone's work.

"Oi, Wakaba, still leaving cigarette ashes on the floor I see," Erza questioned as she closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "And Nab, stop staring at the board and get a job. Really, the only thing you're doing for any one is taking up space." She said with finality. "Hmm…" She hummed as she spotted Gray and Natsu in the corner. They had their arms slung over each other's necks and a forced smile spread across their faces. The moment Erza looked over, the two began to sweat profusely and a slight tremble could be seen if one looked close enough. "Glad to see you two are still getting along." She said giving a small smile.

'_When you're looking'._ Lucy sweat dropped as Erza started towards the bar she was sitting at. As she took her seat beside Lucy quiet chatter started up with the other guild members, relieved the S-classed mage had nothing else to say to them.

"Hi-i, E-Erza. Is there something bothering you?" Lucy said as Erza ordered some water and a strawberry cake.

"Bothering me? Why would anything be bothering me? Erza asked confused.

"Well…" Lucy trailed off as she decided to show Erza what gave her the idea instead of explaining. She reached into her bag and pulled a small, pink mirror from it and handed it to Erza.

"Oh." She said as her face, if possible, grew even more red. "This is sunburn, from the job I took." She said with a rare, sheepish smile.

"Oh?" Lucy said, suddenly intrigued. "What was the job?"

"It was where desert houses were randomly sinking into the sand and reports of giant sand lions creating there trap surrounding the village, making it almost impossible to deliver goods and supplies," She paused as Mira brought her order. Giggling for obvious reasons, she asked if the job was a success, receiving an embarrassed, but confirming, nod. "Anyways, the report stated to be seven in total, but in all actuality, it was about thirteen." She stated nonchalantly as she placed a piece of her cake in her mouth.

"Thirteen?!" Lucy squeaked.

"Yes, it was easy to dispose of the first eight or so, but it seems that they caught on and started to flee. It took… longer than expected to catch them but I was able to haggle a higher reward from the mayor." Erza conclude her story, along with her cake.

"Wow, that sounds tough. I guess that's what makes you the S-class."

"Erza, do you want a fish?" Happy asked innocently.

"No." was her only reply.

"Why do you think fish fixes everything?' Lucy asked with a huff.

"Because fish is good." The blue cat responded. As soon as he finished his sentence, quick footsteps alerted the two women (and cat) of someone's approach.

"Erzaaaaaa!" Natsu screeched as he skid to a stop in front of said mage. "Now we can finish that fight that you owe me!" He said with a wide toothy grin that resembled more of a wild animal than a person's.

"The guy has a death wish." Gray said as he stood behind Lucy shirtless, said shirt discarded a while ago.

"Yeah well you guys have fun, as much as I want to watch Natsu get murdered, "Hey!" "I need to get a job so I can pay my rent, it's overdue." She wilted with the last comment as she began to remove herself from the group.

"Is that so?" Erza said with a sly smile, completely ignoring the dragon slayer behind her. The latter fumed in the corner about being ignored, blowing fire all the while.

"I just so happen to grab a job with a very handsome reward. Originally, I had planned to go alone, but since you are in need of money, you, Natsu, Gray, and Happy can come with me." She said matter-of-factly. She grabbed a roll of paper from a grieve in her armor and handed it to Lucy. "I think you'll find it very… interesting."

Lucy began to read the paper. "An extremely important person has gone missing. Please find and return him immediately. Description: Fairly tall with sandy blond hair, has blue eyes, wears a green tunic, and carries a sword and shield. His name is Link. Please make haste."  
**Sorry guys mistake on my part. Its fixed now though^^**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter: 2

* * *

Link looked over himself as he sat high on the biggest tree in the area. What did the kikwis call it? The… Great Deku Tree, that's what it's called, and it certainly earned its name.

It was around midnight and Link decided it was safe to rest here for now after he had finished killing off the monsters that had settled here. Monsters had multiplied in the area to where their numbers rivaled the amount of bugs in the whole of Faron Woods. They seemed to know that he was there and strategically, probably under the guidance of that Ghirahim, put up barricades around bird statues and the exit leading to the Sealed Temple. Link was pretty much stuck here with nowhere to go. Not to mention his dwindling supplies. He had one more red potion and a half of a bottle full of stamina potion. Not the best to survive off of right now. He decided to not worry about the minor injuries since they all were shallow and there wasn't much chance of infection where he was and leaned against the side to rest.

"Master Link," his faithful sword spirit Fi called out from the purple hilt of the Master Sword, making it pulse in a brighter purple.

"Mmmm?" Link didn't bother to open his eyes since he knew that she would continue anyway.

"I suggest that you wake up at dawn to get a higher chance at sneaking past the monsters' barricades." Fi advised him. Now, don't get him wrong, the plan was genius, but it had one fatal flaw. How in Hylia's name was Link supposed to wake up at dawn? He can barely wake up at 10 o'clock to eat breakfast, which is why he always missed it, let alone dawn.

"Sounds like a plan." He sighed, opening his eyes in spite of himself. This is going to be one challenge that he was guaranteed to lose. "But Fi, could you, um, wake me up when it is time." he said as he rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"Of course, Master." She said and went silent.

"You know, you don't have to call me that."

Silence

"Your usual answer." He sighed, closed his eyes, and drifted off into his comma like sleep.

* * *

Link jolted awake to the sound that Fi made to get his attention, only 3x louder than usual. He opened his eyes to see Fi floating before him.

"Good morning Master, it is exactly 6:32 in the morning and I have successfully awakened you to start scouting." Fi reported.

"What, do you want some pumpkin pie or something?" Link yawned grumpily as he stood and stretched.

"No master. I lack the feeling of hunger or thirst, so the need food is not necessary for me to function."

"Rhetorical question, Fi, rhetorical question." Link deadpanned as he made his way to the edge of the surface he'd been sleeping on, Fi returning to the sword in a flourish. He fearlessly jumped of and took out his sail cloth to quietly drift down. Landing as soft as he could, he took a look at where he landed. He had landed in the area just in front of the viewing platform. Just as he expected, though the stairs where blocked of by fences. He spotted a hut here and there, a bokoblin resting in each.

'_Perfect, they haven't gotten up yet. I'll just dispose of them and find a way past those fences.'_ Link thought as he pulled out his sacred bow and quiver. He notched an arrow, and with killer precision, shot the nearest bokoblin in the neck, effectively silencing it as it died and exploded into purple smoke and light. He proceeded with the other two and executed the same movement to rid the immediate area of monsters.

'_That was fast. I should wake up early more often.'_ Although he inwardly shuddered at the thought, he pushed on to look around for any more enemies. Just beyond the giant tree root to his right he saw more bokoblins, but this time they were awake. Link silently thanked his better judgment of quietly killing the others and made his way to the platform. Link was no coward, far from it. But lately, the bokoblins would all ways seem to carry a monster horn around on their person, so running in and swinging wildly would be counted as suicide, so Link just stuck to sneaking around. As he scouted he noticed an oddly shaped cadge. As he made his way over, he realized there was something inside. A very familiar animal-plant-thing, in fact.

"Machi?" Link called softly to the sleeping Kikwi, as to not draw attention his way.

" Kewwwwww...?" Machi yawned. "OH HEY,GUY! THANK GOODNESS ITS YOU! NOW YOU CAN SAVE ME!"

As soon as Link moved to shush him, horns blared and battle cries could be heard.

"Just my luck."

* * *

A soft, but audible rumble made itself known at the sealed grounds as Groose worked on his marvelous creation.

"uh-oh it seems ugly's gettin' a bit grumpy and that pipsqueak ain't here to shut him up. Better go tell granny." he said as he ran past the stone slab doors of the temple.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I have to apologize for the long wait. I've tried to make this chapter really long so it really took a lot out of my mind. And at times I feel like I'm pulling teeth, but I slave for you peoples, so enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter:3

"So, 50,000 jewels, huh? The reward sounds awesome, but the job itself sounds boring. I mean, what's so interesting about returning some kid to his mother? Not alot of chances to stomp some faces. Thats for sure." Natsu said matter-of-factly.

"Well, considering the description, I don't think that this is "some kid". Just think, would a kid be labled as a very important person before their name? I think not." Erza said crossing her arms. "Besides, I doubt a simple missing child job would be on the S-class board."

"Hmph." Was his only reply.

"So where is this job supposed to be?" Lucy asked.

"The old abandoned church in Fresia." Erza answered.

"Colorful meeting spot. Sounds abit suspicious if you ask me." Gray said, narrowing his eyes.

"That was one of the reasons why this job in particular got my attention. It did seem a bit odd that the meeting spot for more information would be an abandoned church of all places." Erza stated.

"Well, maybe thats where he dissapeared first." Lucy suggested. They all hummed as they thought it over.

"Nope. Can't be." They all said to Lucy in unison. Making xs with thier arms. Lucy huffed and puffed out her cheeks angrily at her idea being waved off so unanimously.

"So, what do you all think? Would you like to come with me on this job?" Erza asked with a mysterious smirk on her face that was practically garunteeing an adventure, and maybe thats why the silence was brief.

"Sure!" Lucy said with enthusiasm and a hint of greed.

"Yeah, I'll go. Don't have anything better to do around here."Gray said, returning Erza's smirck.

"You could be finding clothes." Lucy said as Gray looked down to discover he was only in blue boxers.

"ACK!"

"Well I guess we'll come since it is pretty suspicious, but only on one condition. You fight me when we get the chance, got it?"Natsu barguned.

"Death wish." Lucy and Gray both deadpaned.

"Very well, its a deal." She said as if it was no big deal.

"ALRIGHT!" Natsu roared.

"Aye sir!" Happy chanted with Natsu's enthusiasm, raising a paw in the air.

"Then its settled, we will meet at Magnolia Train station in two hours. This might be a long trip, so make sure to bring necessary supplies."

"Yes ma'am!" They all said rising to leave to there respective homes, Natsu being the first out the door. Erza stayed back to register the job.

"Good luck you guys!" Mira shouted, looking up from registering the job, smiling.

~1 hour later, Lucy's house~

Lucy was diligently packing her bag withnecessary, and unnecessary, travel equipment, when suddenly a dragonslayer and his blue, feline companion dropped by. As usual, he didn't bother to knock, but instead enter through an open window over looking her bed.

"Yo, hows the pakin' comi-"

"Aiiiiiii! BURGLAR!" Lucy screamed, not recognozing the intruder as a friend and kicked him in the face so hard he went falling out the window he entered from, yelling profanities the whole way.

"Thats no way to treat a guest, Lucy." Happy said wagging his finger as if scolding a child. He knew Natsu was fine.

"Huh? Happy? What are you doing here? And if your here, where's Natsu?" She questioned, hearing his statement.

"Right...here." Natsu grumbled as he slowly climbed back up to the window, sporting a perfect, red shoe mark in the middle of his face. "Was there a reason why you kicked me in the face?" He said, balancing on the windowsill.

"I didn't kick you! I kicked some... burglar..." Lucy trailed off as she replayed the scene in her mind and realizing that it was indeed Natsu she had kicked back out the window, not a burglar. Her cheecks flushed. "W-well its not my fault! If you would just knock for once, then that would of never happened!" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"My fault?! Its not my fault you scare easily. Sheesh, your so weird." Natsu responded, sighing after the last scentence.

"What do you want anyways?" Lucy asked gruffly, turning back to her work.

"We, wanted to see if you finished packing yet." Happy answered, hovering over to her to inspect her bag over her sholder.

"Shouldn't you guys be getting rested or something? We still have about an hour left." Lucy asked, seeing if the two would go away.

"Couldn't rest, too pumped."

"For what, I thought you said this job was going to be boring?"

"Yeah well, now that I think about it, that job really is a mystery. It could easily be a trap to get rid of some of Fairy Tail's strongest mages, or somethin'." He said as he sat on Lucy's bed with criss crossed legs. Lucy stared at him as if a second head had sprouted from his neck. "What?"

"You came up with that all by your self?!"

"Why are you surprised?" He said angrily.

"Lucy's so wierd..." Happy said, chewing on a fish he got from his pack.

Ignoring the last comment Lucy muttered something about someone usually being hard headed as she finnished packing her bag and stood up.

"Well, now that I'm done, why don't we make our way to the train station?"

"Yeah oka- WAIT! Your just tryn' to change the subject!" Natsu yelled in realization.

"Thats fine, you can just sit there and scream about whatever your talking about instead of coming on a posibly awesome adventure to kick some faces in." Lucy said while winking and sticking her tounge out.

"Screw that, wait for me!" Natsu said while following a gigling Lucy outside, Happy cheerfully flying beside them.

~Magnolia train station~

"Ugh, where are those three? If they don't hurry the train will leave without us." An impacient, and fully clothed Gray growled beside Erza.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon." She said calmly. As soon as she said that, the said three were running, one flying, through the crowd of people towards the pair.

"I see you finaly made it, Flame-brain." Gray sneered.

"Shut up, minty fresh." Natsu snarled in response, feeling very irritated knowing that he had to ride that miserable excuse for transportation: the train. Gray simply smirked and turned to Erza, who was clearing her throat for attention.

"Alright, now that we're all here we can get on the train. It will be a four hour ride, is every one ready?

"Yep!" They all answered, save for Natsu, who only groaned in response.

"Right. Lets go." The group made their way to the passenger car, Natsu being draged, to find seats.

* * *

Link panted heavily as he killed the last of the monsters that had ambushed him. He was covered in gashes, most superficial, but some deep and long. One particular gash on his side worried him. It stretched from the bottom of his ribs to the lower part of his back. He had been slashed umexpectedly by a moblin that cornered him. It was the only serious wound he had acquired, but it was bleading heavily, and hurt like crazy. He ploped down on the ground after he freed Machi and dug in his pouch for his last postion.

"Gee, thanks guy. You really saved me back there. And... I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you. I was just so excited I forgot that there were packs of monsters creepin' about, kewww." The little kikwi sighed as he rub the back of his head and wadeled up to the teen.

"Thats alright, I'm just glad your okay. Why are there so many monsters about?" Link asked, the question nagging him the two days he spent in the woods.

"Dunno. But they've been poppin up lately and makin the woods more unsafe than it already was. Koo! Mabye the chief might know! He's back at the little safe haven he found for us since its too dangerous for even him to be about."

"Sonds like a plan. Just give me a momment and I'll be right with you." The swordsman said as he found the last contents of some red potion. It wasn't alot, by any means, but it will have to do. As he drank it down, the smaller wounds healed over completly while some only closed. He would have to be careful not to over do anything or he'll reopen them. Expecially the one on his side. He slowly stood, and followed the kikwi back to its safe haven. The ran into no problems as the made their way over to the small grove, since it wasn't all that far away. The kikwis were abit surprised to see Link, but as soon as they saw Machi, they quickly waddled to him.

"Machi, your okay!" Oloo, a kikwi with a leaf mohawk, squeaked happily.

"Yeah buddy, we thought you were a goner." Erla, one with a leaf mustache, said. As Machi conversed with his kin, Link turned to see Bucha, the clan's cheif, saunter over to him.

"Why hello again. It seems that you rescued one of my fellow kikwi yet again, and for that I must thank you." He said, slightly dipping his head in gratitude, slightly because with his huge body, he might just topple over the poor skyloftian in which he was thanking.

"It was no problem, but I was wondering something."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

"I'm sure you have noticed the monster infestation." Bucha nodded his head. "I was wondering if you knew why this has happened." Link already had an idea of why these monsters had shown up, he just wanted to see if hos thoughts were correct.

"Keew..." Bucha hummed in thought. "Truthfully, I do not know, but what I have noticed is that they seem to be targeting you... err.."

"Link." The swordsman supplied.

"Ah, Link, thats right." Link simply sighed. Ignoring the fact that the old being can't remember his name, Link's thoughts had been confirmed. The fact that the stupid monsters that usually attacked any moving thing in sight were targeting him **SPECIFICALLY**, meant that spiteful demon, Ghirahim, has given his minions the task to kill, or capture him. Great, right when he had important things to take care of.

Bucha looked over the young teen standing before him, spying the blotches of red that stained his tunic. The poor child must of encountered the monsters when he had saved Machi.

"Excuse me," Link's voice interupted his thoughts, "but, how did Machi end up getting captured?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"I forgot to ask."

"Well, as you see there is no water source in the immediate area, so Machi volunteered to go get some, and thats when he was captured." Bucha explained. Ever since the swordsman had saved the timid little kikwi, it seemed he became a bit more courageous. His personality must have rubbed of on him.

"I see. Well, I could help out." Link said, shrugging. Bucha raised his brows in surprise.

"What? You don't have to. You have done enough for us already. I couldn't ask any more of you."

"No, it's alright, I want to help. I can't just leave you all here unprotected so close to a monster camp. Besides, you guys helped me out plenty." Link inisted.

"Well, only because you want to, but why don't you rest first?" Bucha sighed. He realy appreciated his willingness to help him and his clan, but the boy looked tired and battered.

"I think I'm good for now. It'll probably be best if I do it now while there aren't any monsters to worry about. I have a feeling if I rest, I might not get up for awhile." Link said.

"Alright, well here is what you must do."

* * *

Lucy stared out tue trains window, watching the country zoom by in comfortable silence. Gray and Happy had decided to take a nap, Natsu was passed out on Erza's lap( she had knocked the dragonslayer out to 'help' with his motion sickness), and Erza was reading a book. Lucy sighed, wondering if this job was going to be easy or not. She had a strong feeling it was the latter, but not knowing why. Erza looked up from her book when she heard Lucy sigh.

"Something wrong, Lucy?" Lucy jolted out of her thoughts when she heard Erza speak.

"Huh? Oh nothing. I was just wondering if this is going to turn out crazy like alot of our jobs usually do." She whispered, trying not to wake anybody.

"I see," Erza chuckled quietly. "well, the main reason I took this job because I had this odd feeling when my eyes caught sight of this job. It was like I just couldn't leave this job on the board, even if I wanted to." She said, placing a hand on her chin as she recalled the odd moment. "Mabye this is the workings of something greater than ourselves." She continued distantly, as if she was talking to herself.

"...Mabye..."

* * *

I would like to thank everyone who had revied, followed, and faved this story. It really makes me feel awsome that I made something you guys like so thanks for the suppor


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The train whistle blew a the train slowed to a stop, waking Lucy from her nap. She yawned and looked at everyone else, who were also stiring from thier naps.

"Wow, that went faster than I thought it would." Gray said while stretching his arms out. He sighed when he spotted Natsu, still unconcious. "I guess I'll cary him out, before we forget again."

"Aaayye." Happy yawned. "Natsu wouldn't want a second trip on the train."

_Definitely not._ Lucy silently agreed. The group made their way of the passanger car to collect their items when Erza saw something odd. A lone figure, draped in black robes, stood next to the exit, leaning casualy on the wall. Now at first glance, the person probably would have gone unnoticed, but as soon as Erza happened to look over, the both instantly locked gazes. She felt as if something was probing through her very soul as she stared back at ruby red eyes. Wait... red? Thats definately not ordinary. But as soon as she thought this, the person disappeared the moment a person walked by, as if they were never there in the first place. In confusion and suspision, she looked around the busy trainstation. _Who was that person?_

"Erza, c'mon!" Erza was pulled out of her thoughts as Gray called to her. She hadn't realized that everyone had already gotten their belongings and was patiently waiting for her.

"R-right!" The mage called as she quickly went to go get her things.

* * *

The kikwis cheered as Link and a small robot delivered the large, much needed, basin of water to their temporary home. They finaly didn't have to constantly endanger themselves just to stay hydrated, and with howmmuch was in it it would probably last a couple of weeks.

"I thank you, young man, for this generous amount of water. If it wasn't for you, I'm not sure that all of us would still be here, so we are in your debt." Bucha said solemnly.

"E-HEM! What about me?! I'm the one who did most of the work! Where's the apprieciation?" Scrapper demanded hotly, as he dropped the container on the ground harshly, the action startling a few kikwis. Link simply rolled his eyes. _Its not like I sat there and watched you. I actually filled the thing up since somebody short circuits when dealing with water. _Link wasn't weak, but he wasn't exactly the beefiest guy around. He was more lean than muscular, so he was bound to run into a problem sooner or later dealing with large, heavy objects. Though it sadly had to be resolved with a crude, flirtatious robot that seemed to see him as a possible love rival, in which Link could not for the life of him understand, and that was truly unfortunate.

Link was forced to call upon Scrapper to help him retrieve the basin since Link was trapped in Faron Woods. So giving him the directions, Link sent him over to Eldin Province, back at the Fire Sanctuary where he had carelessly discarded it, to retrieve and return with. The surprising part of the retrivel, however, was Fi's composure. The usual stoic sword spirit almost showed some type of emotion when the mechanical hot head started hitting on her. AGAIN. It seemed to be some sort of annoyance, in which Link could understand, and, the most baffling, sadness. Link saw this as she spoke to the robot to 'further persuade' the robot to try his best to find the item that they needed. Ofcorse the moment she came out he was already persuaded, but she insisted on giving him specific instructions. If she was the talkitive type, Link probably would of asked her if something was wrong, but knowing his ever faithful 'servant', he would most definitely get the silent treatment. So Link laid off, but he still couldn't help but wonder what that flash of humanity was.

"Thats right! I _finaly_ get some appreciation. Well I'm off, Master Shortpants. Call me if you need me to carry something, but could it be lighter next time?" Link only offered a shrug. "Whatever, I'm outta here." And with that the robot took off to the skies, quickly dissappearing into the clouds. Link released a heavy sigh of relief. He could almost guarantee a headache the momment the robots name was _mentioned_, let alone in his presence. How does the scrap shop owner deal with him?

"I guess I'll be off too, then." Link said to the elder. "For now, I will watch the monster activity and make sure they don't come too close."

"It sounds like you aren't leaving for awhile, that sounds very unlike you. Why is it that you're staying here?" Butcha questioned. The teen, from what he observed, wasn't one to stick around for too long. Always searching for someone or something.

"Truthfully, I'm trapped down here with no way of getting back to my home or to other areas. I am beyond frustrated right now and I guess I can't really do anything more than help you and your family out right now." Link sighed once again, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hmmm..." the large kikwi hummed as he stroked his beard(or was it a long mustache?). "Seems to be quite the predicament."

"Ill say." Link agreed.

"I'm sorry to say, but I don't have the slightest clue or any advice to give you besides to be careful and good luck."

"Thats alright. I guess I'll just keep looking. See you later." He made his way to the exit and quickly strode off. Bucha sighed. _He didn't even take a moment to rest_

* * *

"So where's this place again?" Natsu asked.

"At some old church." Gray answered.

"Yeah, but where?" He turned to Erza for an answer.

"Well, it didn't really say..."

"**WHAT!**" The entire group yelled. "So how are we supposed to find it if we don't know where it is?" Gray questioned. Really, what type of job was this?

"Its not like we won't have any clue where to find it. All we have to do is ask some people and I'm sure we'll find it." The group seemed to visibly relax at Erza's reassurance, but they couldn't help but wonder why the job was so vague. So the group continued on, asking just about anyone who would listen on the whereabouts of this church. To everyones suprise and dismay, however, most of them gave them odd looks or would ask just what they were talking about. This did not look good. This went on for a good half hour until the decided to take a break at a deserted square that sported a large, decrotive fountain. They sat there in silent frustration, each mage in there own way of displaying it. Lucy had drapped herself over the wall of the fountain, absentmindedly splashing her hand in the clear water. Happy sat beside Lucy, eating a fish. Erza sat on the wall with legs and arms crossed, eyes closed in thought. Gray sat on the ground, back resting aginst the fountain's wall, giving off a sigh of irritation. Natsu was pacing infront of them, Gray watching lazily, trying to find out the reason for their problem. It took a good fifteen minutes untill he finaly snapped.

"GRAAAAAH! I've had enough of this! Why doesn't anyone we talk to know about the meeting spot?! He yelled in frustration. If the square was populted, Lucy guaranteed he would have gotten odd looks, not that he would cared.

"Shut up, stupid." Gray grumbled from his spot on the ground. "Throwing a tantrum wont solve anything."

"I don't see you coming up with anything, ya ice striper." Natsu shot back. The two glared at eachother for a momment, weighing whether to start a fight or not, when a certain red head decided for them.

"_Gray, Natsu..._" she groweld, eyes dark with an unspoken warning. Up till now, Erza had shown no signs of irritation, but as soon as she spoke, frustration rolled off her in waves. Lucy slid away from her in fright, Happy trailing after her, as the boys cowered in fear. "We do not need you two to be wasting time fighting when we have such a problem on our hands. If we don't show up to the job soon, then that will leave a bad impresion on Fairy Tail."

"So it is you." Everyone stiffened at the sound of a new voice. Erza quickly stood and turned to the top of the fountain, where a tall figure dressed in black stood. _The person from the station!_ Erza quickly realized.

"Who are you? What do you want?!" Gray asked as he cautiously slipped into a battle stance.

"I cannot answer your first question at the momment," the figure said in a strong yet obviously feminine voice. "But as for your second: it is you that I want. You are on a search and recover mission, yes?" She questioned. Everyones eyes widened in suprise, save for Erza's, who's eyes narrowed dangerously. When no one answered immediately, she continued. "I will lead you to the rendezvous spot. I suggest you hurry, for we are on a time limit." The mages looked at each other, uncertainty shining in their eyes, unsure whether to trust this mysterious women or not. All eyes turned to Erza, for they knew that she could make the smartest choices on a momments notice. She glared at the women.

"How do we know we can trust you?" She asked criticaly.

"My words may not give you much comfort, but I asure you that I have no feelings of malice toward any of you, so there is no reason for suspicion. Although, it is your choice to believe me or not." The figure said nonchalantly. Erza smirked at this.

"Very well, lead on." The woman 'hmphed' in response as she lept of the statue effortlessly and turned towards a small backstreet, seemingly not caring if they followed or not. Before she disappeared, the group quickly caught up to her, but kept a cautious distance. Gray looked to Erza, giving her a questioning look. It was obvious what he was silently asking.

'_You sure about this?_'

Erza reasured her teammate by giving him a confident smile.

_'I'm certain about this_'

Gray gave a silent sigh in acceptance and turned his gaze back to the woman they were following.

From what he could see, she had a dark skin complexion with short blond hair save fot the long strand that swayed to and fro as she walked. Her attire was mostly black, consisting of a long poncho with a collar that covered the bottom half of her face. It went down past her hip on one side, covering all of her right arm, leaving the other bare. The poncho itself was black with a gold line pattern. He could see a red waist band wrapped aroumd her midsection, several tassels dangling from it. Her pants were also black, but had a grayish tint to them that them brighter than the poncho. A gold line running down the middle of the front and back. The pants stoped just before the ankle, leaving her shins exposed. Gray wouldn't exactly say she wore shoes, but cloth covered all her foot except for her toes. All in all, she looked really close to a ninja and Natsu was sure to be drowning her with ninja questions later.

They suddenly came to a stop infront a dead end, their guide turning to face them.

"If this is a trap-" A raised hand cut the dragon slayer's snarl short.

"As I said before, I do not have any ill feelings for you all." The woman said earnestly.

"Then why did you lead us to dead end?" Lucy asked suspiciously, a hand to her gate keys. To answer her, the woman put a hand to the wall that was directly in front of them. Blue magic radiated from the appendage, causing a drawing to appear in the center of the wall with hum of power. To the Fairy Tail mages, the drawing resembled a weeping eye, but before they could inspect it any further, the wall suddenly dissapeared revealing a huge room, sealed away for many years.

"Once you step inside you are beyond the point of return, meaning you either turn away now or go in, for the job you have choosen is not like any other, that I can guarantee. If you choose to continue forward, then all your questions will be answered, but if you choose to leave, then everything you have seen hear will be wiped from your memory. So what say you? Which option do you choose, leave or stay?" The group was bewildered. This job was that important? To actually give the acceptees a choice to go home or stay was definitely new to them and the wernt to sure how to digest that, especially with the red eyed lady staring them down.

"I'm in." All heads turned to the pink-haired mage as he raised a clenched fist. "If any thing this is going to be very interesting job, and thats what I was hoping for." He said, lighting his fist on fire. "I'm all fired up."

"Me too, me too!" Happy shouted as he flew to lay on top of the fire mage's head, said mage smiling up at his partner.

"Well, if the idiots going, I guess I am too." Gray said with a smirk.

"I-I'm comming too!" Lucy said as she realized she was one of the only ones who hadn't said anything yet. All eyes turned to Erza as they waited for her choice. After a couple momments of silence, Erza finaly decided.

"I will becoming as well since you all can't actually take this job without me, but know this," she addressed the other women witn feirce eyes. "If you do anything to betray us, I wont hold back." The woman smiled.

"You have my word." She raised an arm out in a silent invitation to go inside, the mages obliged.

As they walked in the large room the confirmed that this was indeed an abandoned church, the city just built up around it for whatever reason and eventually forgot about its existence.

"So why did they build up around the church instead of taking it down?" Lucy asked alloud. The woman chuckled.

"Oh, they tried. For years they had tried everything to tear this building down, failing every time."

"What kept it up so stubbernly?" Gray asked. She didn't answer immediately, instead walking to the frontcof the church, where a podium was supposed to be, but only broken peices of wood signaled something of the like was ever present.

"This." She finaly said as she held out both hands, blue energy glowing before them. At first they were confused at to what she was doing, some tensing in suspicion, when a golden light, about the size of her palm, made itself visible in the middle of the room. At first it pulsed, going from a dull glow to very bright light, before suddenly expanding, becoming blindingly bright, making everyone look away. When the light died down there was large, pearl colored gear, decorated with symbols foriegn to them, looming before them. Two smaller gears suddenly jutted out from the corners of the room, half of said gears not fully out of the demension they had come from. Slowly, the giant gears began to turn. The sound was rhythmic, not at all like clanking metal, but like soft, other worldly bells.

"WOAH!" Natsu shouted in amazement.

"What is that?!" Gray shouted. The woman walked from behind the huge object nonchalantly.

"The Gate of Time."

* * *

**Yo, long time no see. First, i must apologize, writers block sucks. I absolutly hate how this chapter took twice as long as it should have and I am glad to say that its finally finished. Hope you like. Oh, and do me a favor and review your thoughts on this and possibly the last chapter for me? Its pure torcher when I have no idea how i did on a chapter. It dosen't have to be nice either so by all means, DO NOT hold back. Enjoy the story.**

**P.S. posting a chapter on a tablet makes everything 10x more dificult. It makes meh angray ajd when im angray mah grmar sucks**


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